1683866737-0/223051119828-(1)1683866737-0.jpg "pti leader and former punjab governor omer cheema being taken to a court in lahore photo nni")
Top Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar and Omer Cheema, were taken into custody within 24 hours and transferred to Adiala Jail under detention for 15 days following countrywide protests against former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest.
Qureshi was arrested in the wee hours of Thursday after the police raided Gilgit-Baltistan House in Islamabad under Section 3 of Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
The security personnel rounded up over 1,800 PTI leaders and supporters since the protests began on Tuesday, when Imran was arrested from the Islamabad High Court premises. However, the Supreme Court ordered his immediate release on Thursday evening in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
The Islamabad police spokesperson confirmed the arrests, adding that Imran’s spokesperson Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, her husband Jamshed Cheema, Malika Bukhari and Senator Falaknaz had also been taken into custody under Section 3 of the MPO and transferred to Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi under 15-day detention.
More than 250 workers and protesters had been taken into custody from Rawalpindi and Islamabad due to rioting, of which over 130 were sent to jail.
“Around 80 of them have been transferred by Rawalpindi and Islamabad police,” sources said.
They added that PTI leader Ali Muhammad and Senator Ejaz Chaudhry had also been taken into custody from Islamabad, who were also likely to be transferred to Adiala Jail.
The ICT spokesperson said, “All arrests were carried out after completion of legal requirements.”
In Karachi, PTI Sindh President Ali Zaidi's wife, Yasmin Zaidi, filed a petition in the Sindh High Court, taking a stand that Zaidi was illegally detained two days ago.
“The Constitution provides every citizen of Pakistan the right to peaceful protest,” the petition stated, pleading the court to order the provincial government and police to release Zaidi.
The Sindh Home Department, IG and others had been made parties in the petition.
Talking to the media, Yasmin said, “Ali was detained a day after the death of my father.
“How can I talk about the rights of animals here, when there are none for humans anymore?”
The Karachi police detained more than 350 people on charges of rioting, vandalism, and arson during the protests. “Of the total, 200 people have been formally arrested,” Karachi police chief Javed Alam Odho told The Express Tribune.
He said, “Eighteen cases of rioting, vandalism, and arson during the protests have been registered in the city so far.”
He said that till Thursday afternoon, “I have not received any reports of protests and riots at any place in the city and life has returned to as traffic is running on all the roads as well as all markets have been opened”.
Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore sent PTI leader Omer Cheema to jail on 14-day judicial remand in a case regarding terrorism, attacking the police, and setting the Askari Tower in Gulberg ablaze.
ATC Judge Abher Gul Khan conducted the proceedings, wherein the Gulberg police produced the accused, including Sameer Ahmad, Mohsin Azad, Usman Akhtar, Zaighum, Ayaz Talat, Huzaifa Amjad, Anees Ahmad, Muhammad Khalid, Tanveer Ahmad and Ali Ahmad.
The court also sent 11 PTI workers to jail on a seven-day judicial remand.
Further, the Hazara police arrested 46 PTI workers in various districts of the division under Section 3 of the MPO.
Some 20 PTI workers along with former provincial minister Qalandar Khan Lodhi were arrested by the Abbottabad police while 18 protestors were held in Haripur and eight in Mansehr
a for rioting and violence.
According to Hazara police spokesperson Wajid Mahmood, cases were registered at different police stations of Mansehra against 30 nominated local leaders and 200 workers for their involvement in violent protests.
He said the arrested workers were presented in different courts while the process of identifying and arresting other PTI workers and nominated leaders was in progress.
Teams from different police stations were conducting raids to arrest other workers. Former National Assembly member Ahmad Shah Ghani, and former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly members Ali Khan Jadoon and Qalandar Khan Lodhi staged a protest at the Fawwara Chowk in Abbottabad in violation of Section 144 and closed the Karakoram Highway.
Due to the road blockage, besides commuters, even ambulances transporting patients were trapped in the traffic jam.
A protest was also held in Mansehra, which resulted in the blockage of the road, causing problems for travellers.
(With input from agencies)
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